On his first official day as the 52nd Secretary of the Department of Interior, Ryan Zinke issued his first two secretarial orders benefitting the sportsmen and outdoor communities. Zinke invited various members from the sportsmen’s community for the signing ceremony of the secretarial orders that help expand public land access, as well as opportunities to hunt, fish and recreate across the country.

“Today’s actions by Secretary Zinke are a clear indication that sportsmen and women around the country will have a voice at the Department of Interior,” said Ducks Unlimited CEO Dale Hall. “Providing places for all Americans to hunt, fish and recreate is vitally important, as hunters and anglers are North America’s greatest conservationists. I want to thank Secretary Zinke for his strong commitment and look forward to working with him in his new capacity at the Department of Interior.”

Order 3346 overturns the lead ammunition and fishing tackle ban on Fish and Wildlife Service lands, waters, and facilities, but does not apply to waterfowl hunting. Lead shot has been banned for waterfowl hunting since 1991, and Secretary Zinke’s orders do not affect waterfowl hunters on public lands. The second order, 3347, directs bureaus and agencies to immediately identify areas where recreation and fishing can be expanded. The order also requests the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council and Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council to provide recommendations on enhancing and expanding access on public lands and improving habitat for fish and wildlife.

Secretary Ryan Zinke, who hails from Montana, is an NRA member and an avid outdoorsman. He served as a U.S. Navy SEAL from 1986 to 2008, retiring at the rank of commander.

Secretary Zinke was confirmed with bipartisan support by the Senate on March 1, 2017 with a vote of 68 to 31. Before joining the Department of Interior, Zinke was elected to Congress in January 2014 after a 22-year career with the U.S. Navy. During his term as U.S. Representative from Montana, he has served as a member of the House Natural Resources Committee and has been a strong advocate of keeping public lands open to public use.

On April 9, 2015, the California Fish and Game Commission (CFGC) adopted regulations to ban the use of traditional lead-component ammunition for all hunting in the state by July 1, 2019. The Daily Caller reports: “In a unanimous vote, the Commission opted to phase out lead bullets, which hunters’ groups are calling a de-facto ban on hunting in the state.” The new regulations will be implemented in multiple phases, starting with the 2015 hunting season. These tough new regulations were issued pursuant to legislation passed in 2013 by the California legislature and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation is worried that California-style ammo bans will be adopted in other states. To some observers, California’s ban on lead-based ammunition was designed more to reduce gun sales and halt hunting than it was ever intended to help the environment. The NSSF has shown that the elimination of traditional lead ammo will do little, if anything to improve the environment in any meaningful way. What such bans WILL do is raise the cost of ammo and make it more difficult to hunt. The NSSF explains: “Anti-hunting groups use the supposed harm caused by traditional ammunition as a wedge issue to further their ultimate political agenda of banning hunting across the country.” The NSSF has provided the real facts via an infographic and the YouTube video embedded below.

Hunting and the shooting sports are under attack from forces trying to ban all ammunition containing lead. A coalition of anti-hunting groups has been trying to get the EPA to ban traditional ammo with lead in the bullets. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) has been leading efforts to fight back, and protect your ability to use traditional rifle, pistol, and shotgun ammunition.

NSSF, the NRA, Safari Club International (SCI) and the Association of Battery Recyclers (ABR) have filed a joint brief supporting the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rejection of a second attempt by a Center for Biological Diversity (CBD)-led coalition of anti-hunting groups to ban traditional ammunition. The CBD’s first attempt to ban the use of lead ammunition for hunting was denied by EPA in 2010 on the grounds the agency did not have the authority to regulate ammunition under the Toxic Substances Control Act. This decision was subsequently upheld by a Washington, D.C., federal court that dismissed CBD’s challenge. In 2012, the CBD and 100 other organizations filed a second, nearly identical submission that EPA rejected. CBD again sued and the case again was dismissed by the same federal court. The intervenors (NSSF, NRA, SCI, and ABR), have filed legal briefs arguing that CBD should not be able to circumvent procedural and jurisdictional requirements by resubmitting virtually the same petition less than two years after the submission of the first one. NSSF argues that CBD’s repetitive petitions and lawsuits constitute an abuse of administrative and judicial resources.

A lead-free “utopia” where bullets are banned and hunting is, for all practical purposes, eliminated — that’s apparently what some legislators want California to become. California Assembly Bill AB 711 would completely ban the use of traditional lead ammunition for hunting anywhere in the state. What’s more, many legislators acknowledge that this ban could, in the near future, be applied to all shooting sports in the Golden State. If you can’t buy bullets, you can’t shoot — and that seems to be the real agenda.

NSSF has purchased billboards in the Sacramento area to urge opposition to AB 711 and has been airing radio commercials that reveal the role of the anti-hunting groups behind this ill-conceived legislation. This week, the opposition to AB 711 was joined by a major state labor organization. NSSF urges all California hunters, target shooters and gun owners to contact their state legislators to oppose AB 711.

To understand more about the issue, read a well-reasoned editorial published in the Outdoor Wire. Even non-Californians should be concerned, because other states might follow California’s lead in the future. And AB 711 is not the only serious anti-gun measure on the table. In addition to AB 711, several other highly restrictive measures are in the works. Proposed legislation would place ALL semi-automatic rifles with detachable magazines on California’s list of banned “assault weapons”. Another bill would block Californians from purchasing long guns unless purchasers pass a state-mandated written test.

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